Islington

Islington's appeal is that it feels like a village and behaves like a city. The Georgian squares of Barnsbury and Canonbury are as quiet as anywhere in London, yet the City is a fifteen-minute cycle away and King's Cross a single stop on the Northern line.

Most of our buyers here want a house: flat-fronted Georgian terraces around Barnsbury and Thornhill Squares, or the larger Victorian villas of Highbury New Park. Flats come in two kinds: lateral conversions in period houses, and the warehouse buildings along the Regent's Canal around City Road Basin.

Upper Street does most of the eating and drinking, with Camden Passage for antiques on a Wednesday and Saturday. Families tend to settle between Highbury Fields and the canal, where the primary schools are strong and the streets are wide enough for a bicycle.